It is illegal to copy a content such as a piece of music recorded for sales on disc media such as a CD (Compact Disc) and a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), which are provided for music, if there is no permission given by the author of the content except that the content is copied exclusively for private use.
In recent years, however, discs onto which data can be written by adoption of a color-changing technique or a phase-changing technique have becoming popular, putting the user in a condition making the user capable of copying a content with ease. Examples of such discs are CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW.
In addition, a disc drive apparatus (or a media reproduction apparatus) embedded in or connected to a personal computer is capable of recording data onto or reading out data from a variety of discs conforming to a CD system and/or a DVD system. Examples of such a disc drive apparatus are a CD-ROM drive and a DVD drive. Furthermore, the disc drive apparatus is capable of carrying out reproduction operations at a high speed such as an 8-time reproduction speed, a 16-time reproduction speed and 40-time reproduction speed.
At the present time, a CD player or the like sold as an audio commodity adopts an copyright protection function called a SCMS (Serial Copy Management System), which normally allows a copy operation only one time at a 1-time reproduction speed.
Nevertheless, a personal computer and a disc-drive apparatus embedded therein or used as a peripheral unit thereof do not adopt the copyright protection function so that, practically, copy operations can be carried out an unlimited number of times. An example of the disc-drive apparatus is a CD-ROM drive.
Furthermore, in recent years, a CD-ROM drive, which is embedded in or connected to a personal computer and capable of recording data onto a CD-R and a CD-RW, has become a standard commodity. Of course, the DVD, the DVD-R and the like have also become all but standard products.
In consequence, the user has entered a state in which it is possible to transfer musical data recorded on a disc such as a CD provided for musical use to a hard disc typically by using a personal computer and then carry out a recording operation to copy the data to media such as a CD-R with ease and in a short period of time.
In particular, the fact that recording and reproduction operations carried out on an optical disc at a high speed allow copy operations to be carried out in a short period of time offers convenience to an unauthorized party selling copied discs. Such high-speed recording and reproduction operations increase the number of so-called piracies, which ignore copyrights.
From the facts described above, there has been raised a demand for restrictions of operations to reproduce contents such as musical data by using a media reproduction apparatus such as a disc drive apparatus in conjunction with an information-processing apparatus such as a personal computer.